Watch Hut in the Woods For Free

An Exercise In Nonsense

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Die Summe meiner einzelnen Teile" or "Hut in the Woods" is a German movie from 2011, so this one had its 5th anniversary last year. The writer and director is Hans Weingartner and despite the age, it is actually still his most recent release. He is certainly not the most prolific filmmaker. It is also his least known full feature work, but this also may have to do with the fact that the lead actor is Peter Schneider and not a big name like Bleibtreu or Brühl. Or it may just have to do with the fact that it's not really a great film. The focus is on the character of Martin, a grown-up man who may (or may not lose his sanity) after losing his job first. He ends up in the wild where he meets wolves and a little boy. The rest of the film is about his interactions with the kid and eventually the question if the boy is real or just existed in the man's mind. This is an interesting part of the plot for sure, but honestly, I did not feel as if it is good enough to be the core of a film that is pretty long, really runs for almost 120 minutes. Or at least it's not good enough the way it was depicted in here. This is a bit of a shame as the acting from everybody is fairly solid, even if I would not say Schneider or any of the other actors were truly great. Julia Jentsch is probably the most known cast member, but first of all she does not have too much to work with and honestly I felt she was relatively bland on some occasions. So yeah, overall, I would not say I was too convinced by this one. It is a decent character study, but it also goes sometimes over the top in its attempts to be such and this is when the film is at its weakest. I have to give it a thumbs-down and this is pretty disappointing as I quite liked Weingartner's other stuff. My least favorite from him for sure. Watch something else instead.

Yes... I think this should be the title. A literal translation from the original German title. Embrace yourself to a journey into the wild and free mind of a man who's physically restrained to a mental institution. His only escape? His imagination... The beautifulness of the storyboard. Even all those bumps his mind provokes in the story line is poetry in motion. You'll be sad... then terrible... then horrified... then comes hope... joy and finally you see yourself free... You discover where the freedom really exists. I won't tell you where, just see the movie and find it yourself... Warning: this is not a great produced/high budget movie... simple but straight to the point, that's what matters... anything else is a distraction! PS: Nothing to do with the review... but as I'm from Portugal I was also delighted to find out that this is paradise to some people. And believe me... it's paradise, come and see for yourself ;)

I Loved the new Weingartner Movie ! Makes you think how we treat the "mentally disturbed " or even what is mentally disturbed ??? You should definitely go and see it . If you liked " Das weisse Rauschen " and " die fetten Jahre sind vorbei " this is the Movie to see. Brilliant Actor Peter Schneider catches you with his performance . In the first part of the movie , we can see how his life is dramatically changing and the only solution society is giving him ,is drugs . As he decided to find his own way ,nobody can understand him. His only friend is a young ukranian Boy how is helping him and guiding him into nature where they are trying to find their way of living .